Monday, April 24, 2017

On a Personal Note – One Reason Why I Write

“I always wanted to write
about my coming to America, where I was able to be successful.”This quote came from an immigrant that never
graduated High School and arrived here without speaking English.By the time he made the comment above, the
accent was gone and he fit into America 100% and living the American dream.Early in coming to America, life was hard,
and when his father died a few years after arriving, he did what young men (or
teens) did, went to work to support his mother and two older sisters.A strong why, years of hard work, which
included working in various industries (bookkeeping, insurance, installment
business), being an entrepreneur (various) and finally sales, helped to support
his family, grow a family and eventually have a house in the city and one “in
the country.”Upon retirement, he had
attained financial freedom and lived the lifestyle he wanted, but never wrote his
story.

This is not a unique story,
but one of many, where a legacy (not necessarily financial) is passed on as an
oral history, with each successive generation passing on the family values and
history through their personal filters.Writing is not easy.I remember
writing in High School where my imaginative mind often had teachers frowning at
the topics I chose.In college, I had to
write essays for history classes, one teacher understood my more creative way
of explaining (via analogies) while another teacher sent a test back to me writing
that I was “basically a f*@# up. Needless to say, this did have a negative
impact on my earlier life.While I had
some thoughts on writing, these (along with mediocre English grades) banished
any thoughts of writing. When Gab and
Bec were little, a friend gave me a journal to write down the things we did as
a family – not for myself, but to pass on to the girls when they got
older.The book sat unused on a shelf. Many years later, as I became an active volunteer,
I was asked to write a monthly article.My creativity seeped into these writings, but now, instead of a
critical, focused audience (a teacher), I had a more receptive audience that
liked the digressions and creativity (made reading the article enjoyable).

Like any skill, it takes
time to develop the skill, practice that skill and see how others use the skill
(in my case reading).We have all met
people that say they want to do something, but do not always want to put in the
effort to develop the needed skill(s). The immigrant generations came to this
country, where prior to arriving, they believed that the streets were paved
with gold, meaning that the United Stated of America was the land of
opportunity.They worked very hard to
provide for their families, purchase homes and become pillars in their respective
communities.The person in the story
above, my grandfather, would have been 109 had he still been alive.He was a strong willed man and had few
regrets.Even though Grandpa never wrote
out his story, it has become part of our family oral history.Maybe, by writing with consistency, besides
for sharing lessons and experiences, I will be able to impart a piece of my
history to our future generations, to live alongside our family oral stories.